Australian workers are experiencing burnout at higher rates than their peers around the world, according to a new report.

The Lululemon Global Wellbeing Report 2024 is based on a survey of 16,000 workers across 15 countries, including Australia.

The report found that while there has been an increasing focus on wellbeing at work, this has created immense pressure for workers that is actually contributing to poor health and burnout.

And a separate report has found that only 27 per cent of Australian knowledge workers have a healthy relationship with their work, below many other comparable nations.

The burnout is real

According to the Lululemon report, Australia has the most “wellbeing burnout zones” – defined as areas where people experience high levels of burnout when thinking about their physical, mental or social wellbeing – of any of the countries surveyed.

Overall, Australians reported a wellbeing score of 66, below many other countries including France (69), the United States (69), Singapore (70) and China (79).

“This year’s report highlights that the growing pressure Australians feel to achieve a perfect state of wellbeing is actually having the opposite effect,” Lululemon AU/NZ vice-president Paul Tinkler said.

“With increasing burnout and feelings of isolation, it’s evident that traditional approaches aren’t enough.

“Our report highlights the urgent need for strategies that foster genuine connections and embrace balanced movement.”

The pressure to be well

According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of workers are feeling pressure from other people and the community in general to focus on their wellbeing.

But many said this pressure in itself is proving detrimental to their wellbeing.

Nearly half of those surveyed said they are experiencing wellbeing burnout, and two-thirds of these people said they feel powerless when it comes to addressing this issue.

Despite nearly nine out of 10 people surveyed saying they did more in the last year to improve their wellbeing compared to previous years, overall levels of wellbeing have remained the same.

The pressure to improve wellbeing is being felt most by younger workers, the report found.

Three-quarters of Gen Z workers and more than 70 per cent of Millennials felt pressure from others and society in general to support their wellbeing, compared to 60 per cent of Gen Xers and just over 40 per cent of Boomers.

Nearly half of all the people surveyed said they were experiencing “wellbeing burnout”, either in their physical, mental or social wellbeing.

Of these, eight out of 10 said they regularly experienced negative emotions, and the majority felt powerless to improve their own wellbeing.

This also most impacted Gen Z workers, with more than 60 per cent reporting feeling loneliness at least sometimes, much higher than the general population at 40 per cent.

The Lululemon report found that there are actions that can be taken to address this wellbeing burnout.

These include taking social media breaks, with those who have done so reporting nearly 10 per cent higher wellbeing.

Workers who set boundaries in their professional and private lives reported 13 per cent higher wellbeing, and those who practise meditation reported 12 per cent higher wellbeing.

A healthy relationship with work

Another report, the HP Work Relationship Index, found that just 27 per cent of Australian knowledge workers said they had a healthy relationship with work, just below the global average of 28 per cent.

This figure is also well below many other nations, including the US (34 per cent), Indonesia (44 per cent) and India (46 per cent).

The report found there are many drivers behind the development of a healthy relationship with work, including fulfilment, leadership, people-centricity, skills, tools and workspace.

The findings in these two reports back up a number of other recent reports that have found Australian workers are tired and burning out.

Gartner’s Global Talent Monitor in August found that workers are exhausted and uninspired, driven in part by their employer’s growing use of artificial intelligence.

There are also concerns that the increasing usage of AI by workers is “exacerbating the epidemic of loneliness”, with some employees interacting with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT instead of talking to their co-workers.

Another survey from earlier this year found that Australian women are more unhappy in their jobs and less satisfied with their salaries than their male counterparts.

The solution to these issues may be found in spending less time at the desk, with a report finding that the introduction of a four-day work week has the potential to reduce burnout and create more effective and efficient workers.

Another report found that workers would rather have more time off, extra training or health benefits over receiving a 10 per cent pay rise.

Burnout can also be dangerous for an overall business in certain groups of employees, with a study from last year finding that it is more prevalent among cyber security professionals than the general workforce, and that this can increase the risk of a cyber breach.